What about the pranayama course?
The majority of yoga students due to an attention to the physical contents of their personality orient to focus on the yogic postures and other physical exercises. Because of which they are found ignoring the other layers of yogic practices, such as breath awareness, pranayama (expansion of life force), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and finally Samadhi (complete absorption) and due to which they eventually find themselves disconnected with harmony in life. However, breath is considered by yogis such as Patanjali in his yoga-sutras and specially the Himalayan yogis as a bridge between body and mind. In order to balance the body and mind one needs to train their breath. The controlled natural breath is conducive to the subtle practices of yoga because there you need an efficient attention to work with the body and mind in deeper sense.
Here in this course on pranayama at our school Yoga Vidya Mandiram in Rishikesh, India, yoga alliance certified yoga teachers and guides led by our pranayama expert Acharya Sandeep Pandey and Acharya Onit Kumar, guiding you through the basic principles of breath awareness and pranayama practices, will take your practices to the deferent levels and gradually help you to realize the inner connections of breath and breath from where you can begin your inner journey to the attain the final goal of yoga, the Samadhi. Therefore this course serves as a therapeutic tool for the pranamaya kosha on all levels of pranayama; beginner, intermediate and advance.
What is the meaning of pranayama?
The word pranayama is a Sanskrit term. It is derived from two different units; “prana” meaning the vital force, energy and “a-yama” meaning expansion. Thus, pranayama simply means the practices of breath expansion, regulation. This regulation of breath energy brings laghutva, harmony or lightness of the body and removes body and pranic diseases while on the mental level it brings clarity, calmness and the speciation of the mind which induces a stat of meditation (dhyana) as it is state by the greatest of yogis, Sage Patanjali, the author of the Yoga-sutras. Realizing such importance of pranayama techniques and different practices many of the yogis have stated that the practice of pranayama truly is the first step towards the inner journey of the self (raja-yoga, ashtanga-yoga). Almost all yogic lineage of the world use pranayama practices in one or the other ways.
Who should apply for this course?
The students of all levels who wish to improve their physical exercises including yoga postures. This course is also aimed for the yoga practitioners who wish to acquire the deeper sense of unity of the body and mind. Who wish to learn the pranayama as the step to the raja-yoga, ashtanga yoga (eight elements of yoga). Who are oriented to realize the subtleties of yoga practices by the authentic breath awareness and other yoga pranayama techniques and practices as taught by the authentic living lineage of the Himalayan yogis, such as Swami Shivananda, Swami Satyananda, Swami Rama of the Himalayas and his disciple Swami Veda Bharati and others.
What will you learn from the course?
This is a one week course pranayama where you will be introduced to the basic principles in theory and techniques of breathing practices and pranayama. You will also learn how to utilize the breath awareness in day today life. You will learn different breathing techniques in details along with their benefits and contraindications. The teachers will lead you through the pranayama course with an understanding of philosophy and science of breath along with focussing on breath anatomy study in detail.
Why is special about this course?
(a) In order to work with our guest and students we accept only small groups of 5-6 persons at a time. (b) This course integrates the philosophy and techniques of pranayama, the science of breath. (c) This pranayama course is designed so that every individual finds its level of practice and how to grow the intensity in the practice further. (d) We will have students introduced to the textual studies about pranayama during the course, so that they remain stick to the original teachings of pranayama.
What to do after this course?
After the completion of this pranayama course the students will have enough learning tools to continue with the daily integration of pranayama practices. The students can discuss on their personal practices with our teachers and additional guidance can be provided if needed from the school. Secondly, after this course practitioners of yoga can proceed with other specific programs, such as 7 days Basic Yoga Nidra Retreat, 200 & 300 hour Advance Hatha Yoga and 200 & 300 Ashtanga Yoga at our school Yoga Vidya Mandiram in Rishikesh.
What will be the pranayama course curriculum?
- What is pranayama?
- Science of breath.
- Three pathways of breath and how to trigger the spiritual energy.
- The system of nadi, subtle energy channels and chakra system.
- Basic-Intermediate-Advance study of yoga anatomy and physiology of breath, especially the study of yogic perspective of respiratory system.
- How to improve the breath through yogic techniques?
- Learning of traditional pranayama techniques as taught by the Himalayan masters, such as Swami Shivananda, Swami Rama of the Himalayas, and other devoted yogis of the yogic lineage.
- The textual study on explanation of benefits and contradictions of each practice of pranayama.
- Therapeutic effect of different breathing practices including pranayama techniques as found in the traditional texts.
- Hatha-yoga & ashtanga-yoga classes
- Shat-kriya & pranayama practices
- Mantra recitation guided & karma Yoga
- Relaxation & meditation practices
- Yoga practicum/practice teaching
- Excursion to the adventurous activities including rafting, nearby temples & shrines, and tracking in the Himalayas
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